Last week a husband and Dad of four lost his battle with cancer. In his fifties, he had so much more life to live. Being in the neighborhood of about ten years older, I felt so sad his family to not have him there for events as their kids launch into adulthood. Instantly, I thought, how lucky I am to be here to have seen my kids grow up, get married and have children (two of three of ours).
Six years ago, we lost a close friend and shortly after, my Dad. My friend was in her sixties still had so much more life to live and experience. Like the Dad who lost his life last week, my friend had so many more life events to experience…On the other hand, my Dad had experienced many monumental moments in life. He saw his kids graduate from college, get married, have kids, two grandkids graduate from college, professional school and one get married. He had some health problems that should have taken him eleven years earlier, but he kept going. When he took his last breath and I sat with him, as much as I hated to see him go, I knew that he must have willed himself to see those last monumental events-they say people can do that-and we had eleven more years we never should have. It was a miracle and most likely not the only person to have that experience, so you might just call it one of those ordinary miracles…
Do you ever think of the ordinary miracles in your life everyday? If you drive around many parts of the country this time of year, late October, you are likely to see landscapes of orange, yellow, red and brown. The colors are intense and beautiful. Interestingly, every year at the same time, we get the same gorgeous scenery. Yes, every year we can count on it. Then in the spring, all those leave that changed colors and fell off the trees are replaced by new buds and leaves and they will fill the landscape with luscious scents of spring. The grass that was dormant and covered with white snow in the winter comes back to life. Think of the rainbows, the animals that migrate or hibernate, they know where to go, when to come back and when to wake up. Think of the beauty in a sunrise or sunset and the timing of it all and how it changes throughout the year in sync. These are ordinary miracles that happen right in front of us…
Look at the hands and fingers that allow us to prepare food, work, care for those we love and look at the symmetry the perfection of the muscles that allow you to type, text or hand write a note to someone special. They are made perfectly allowing us to do the things we need to do…Look at the ordinary miracles of a baby or twins. A baby that lives inside a mother’s womb that provides exactly what that baby needs to grow into a person who can survive the birth process and eventually learn to feed itself and start walking and talking around their first birthday. To witness twins come home from the hospital and grow into two totally different little people is something…
With all these ordinary miracles and numerous others right in front of us everyday, one is left to wonder why are there so many miserable and sad people? We see people running from one fix to the next, looking for more and more to ‘make them happy.’ So many people on medication to ‘pick them up’ or looking for something to ‘medicate’ them from there problems, like alcohol or recreational drugs. There are people who need medication for medical conditions they are dealing with. I am not talking about people with chemical deficiencies that require medical attention, but rather those looking for the next shiny object to get their attention. If you remember the children’s book by Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree, the tree gave and gave to the little boy, to make him happy, it’s leaves, it’s branches and so on until the only thing left was a stump. The boy thought that each thing would make him happy and it did for a short while and then he wanted more and more and eventually he was a miserable old man. The tree on the other hand was glad to give even when all he had to give the old man was a comfortable place to sit.
Someday, we will meet the same fate a the husband and Dad of four who lost his life last week, or my friend and Dad six years ago, or we will be those left behind. Why some of us are allowed the time to see more than others are only questions God knows the answer to. I once read that sometimes, those who really understand what is important in life are those who have been told they have just a short time to live. Maybe it’s because when you get that diagnosis, you think “you know, worrying about such and such was not worth it, because I know now what matters”…
It wasn’t until the 1960s that hot indoor showers became a common thing in the United States. We live in one of the best times in history to live, despite all of our problems, we have healthcare, home heating, transportation and every modern convenience. Think of the technology available to us and the ability to travel the world. We can be in contact with anyone around the world, and even with all of that, there are still so many people searching for more and more to entertain them…
Maybe if those who feel a little ‘empty’ stopped every once and a while and observed all the ordinary miracles around them and the gifts of friends and loved ones in their lives and just how special they are to them, they might feel a little more full. Sometimes we all can get caught up in the quest to be smarter and better and more fit and younger and everything else there is to be out there. I know sometimes I do. Although there is nothing wrong with goals, taking care of our bodies so that we are healthy we can get wrapped up at times in being the best. However, to those loved ones of the Dad last week, my friend and my Dad, they were just enough being them. It didn’t matter that my Dad worked long hours in a restaurant, of course we appreciated his hard work to support his family and the home, food, clothing education, etc., he provided for us and we respected him for it but what he was to us as a Dad, was just enough. Each and everyone of us is just enough to those who love us. The things we do, the interests we have are part of who we are, but in the end, who we are is just enough…Really…And each one of us is an Ordinary Miracle…❤️
A few of the ordinary miracles in my life ❤️
